How ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ star Henry Golding rose to stardom from TV travel host
You can take the boy out of Malaysia but you can’t take the Malaysian out of the boy
Until early last year, it would have been a safe bet that few people outside Southeast Asia knew of a personable young television host named Henry Golding. All that is going to change when the much anticipated Jon M. Chu film adaptation of the Kevin Kwan novel Crazy Rich Asians rolls out on screens worldwide in August.
When STYLE first caught up with Golding at the Santos de Cartier watch launch in San Francisco in April, he was still able to enjoy some anonymity exploring the darkened venue while Hollywood names such as Jeremy Renner, Sofia Boutella and Lily Collins were ensconced in an enclosure with other guests. It was clear that the unassuming Golding was soaking up the new life that Crazy Rich Asians has catapulted him into, in the nicest possible way. There is a lot of hype surrounding the movie, the first Hollywood production starring an all-Asian cast since The Joy Luck Club in 1993. The story is set mainly in Singapore and begins when Nick Young, a seemingly low-key university professor in the US, returns home with his girlfriend, Rachel (Constance Wu), to attend a wedding
It is only then that the unsuspecting Rachel learns what a catch she has landed. As the heir to one of Singapore’s biggest family fortunes, Nick is the island republic’s most eligible bachelor – in his own words, the “Prince Harry” of Singapore – and Rachel finds herself struggling to fend off infatuated gold-diggers, meddling relatives, and a highly disapproving mother (Michelle Yeoh).
Golding was a surprise choice for the role of Nick, around whom the world of these crazy rich Asians revolves. Golding’s résumé until then had comprised of two jobs: hairdresser and travel show host, neither of which gave him an acting pedigree.
With an English father and a Malaysian mother from the Iban tribe in Sarawak, Golding’s mixed heritage also upset racial purists who felt he was “not Asian enough” for the role. The fact is that young Henry grew up in Sarawak and Terengganu in Malaysia until he moved to England when he was seven – and has been based first in Malaysia, then in Singapore, for the past 10 years.
Last year, after the production of Crazy Rich Asians, Golding returned to his tribe in Sarawak and underwent the bejalai, a traditional Iban ritual of discovery, where he had to endure the challenges of the jungle. His experience, from eating raw wild boar liver to hunting and sleeping in the jungle as well as enduring an excruciating 10-hour native tattoo session, was filmed for Discovery Channel Asia’s Surviving Borneo series.
